Laurel Safety Razor - anyinformation

[Cal1961]

Does anyone have any information on the Sheffield Laurel Safety razor. When they were produced, what they were coated in etc etc

Cant find much on the web but I am pretty sure someone on here will have some information

Thanks

 

[ironfist]

1930s i believe. Any pictures?

 

[alex2363]

Does anyone have any information on the Sheffield Laurel Safety razor. When they were produced, what they were coated in etc etc

Cant find much on the web but I am pretty sure someone on here will have some information

Thanks

Laurel Safety razors were made by George h Lawrence in the 1900's to 1930's, he made many razor design including ladies razors, Bakelite razors, Open combs, and small vest type travel razors.

 

[Cal1961]

1930s i believe. Any pictures?

Waiting for it to arrive. Will post some pictures

 

[onotoman]

As Alex says, early 1900s to 1930s - Some have proprietary blade configurations (so only fit Laurel Blades) - Such as the Laurel Dumbbell, some of these are useless as shavers as modern blades won't fit.

The idea behind this was, Laurel Blades will fit any razor (including Gillette) but only Laurel Blades fit a Laurel Dumbbell Razor - so they hoped to steal some of the market from Gillette, obviously, in hindsight, the plan didn't succeed.

Other companies also tried this - such as Ward & Son (Wardonia) etc.

Coating on most razors prior to 1980s was Bright Nickel, with very early razors being silver plated. Yours will most likely be Nickel and hopefully not of the proprietary blade variety.

 

[Winblows]

Does anyone have any information on the Sheffield Laurel Safety razor. When they were produced, what they were coated in etc etc


Cant find much on the web but I am pretty sure someone on here will have some information


Thanks

1930s i believe. Any pictures?

Found this one in my drawer. English Gillette NEW LC on a Sheffield Laurel handle. I'll shave with it tomorrow.

 

[Gary H]

I used mine twice, it is very hard to get a good shave with this razor.

 

[Winblows]

As far as I can spot on the internet, this handle appears under various of heads.

 

[Bikerbuzz0408]

Does anyone know if the Head on the Dumb- Bell Razor can be modified to accept regular double edge blades, it looks like anyone with a few machining tools could do it, the question is will it be worth it ? An other question is can the head be exchanged with any other
razor and is all of this a waste of time because the razor just is not that good of a razor and not worth the effort ?

 

[782sirbrian]

I've got one of the Dumb bell razors I haven't tried to alter a blade I just have the razor for my collection as it was made in my own city. Here's a link to a website that gives some history of George H Lawrence who founded the company.

http://www.chrishobbs.com/sheffield/georgelawrence.htm

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

If one has machining tools and skills, why not make a punch and die to take a modern blade and pop out the required shape to the center?

Stan

 

[Bikerbuzz0408]

I really don't like keeping a razor around I can't use at least occasionally, I droped a gillette blade in it today and the main problem seems to be the two side pins that are too wide, I believe that by narrowing them the razor could accept the gillette blade but it will be a little tricky. Stan I think I'm going to give it a shot, after joining the B&B I've started to work on razors and even learned how to modify SE blades, so what the heck. It will take me a few days to set it up. I'll take some before and after Pics. Thanks

 

[Bikerbuzz0408]

Ok the modifications are done on the Laurel Dumb-Bell Razor, It's not pretty or even perfect, it took more work than I care to admit but it works, in other words you can drop a modern double edge blade in it and shave, In this case a modern Feather blade. In short I took a dremmel tool to the guides, when I ran out of space near the base I used a hand tool to take off the last sixteenth, would I do it again, probably not, am I glad I did it, absolutely. I planning on shaving with it in the next few days meanwhile here are some pics.

Manny

 

[DrAwkward]

I'm looking forward to your report. I have a different Laurel model that shaves pretty well (I just modified a blade since I don't own a dremmel tool).

 

[Bikerbuzz0408]

Ok first shave with the modified "Laurel Bumb-Bell", so even after the mods I was concerned with the blade exposure, so I went with a really mild Astra superior platinum, i use " Somersets " shaving oil as a pre shave and today I was using the classic gillette wilkonson shaving soap, I was expecting the worse but actually it wasn't a bad shave, I did two passes, one WTG and one ATG and a little touch up and I would give the shave a 7.5 out of 10. If I would have used a sharper blade I think it would of done better. I met my personal goal, to modify the razor so I could drop any modern DE blade in it and have a decent shave, was it a lot of work yes but it was worth it, when I get a chance I'll try to fill and polish the underside of the head. Adding a few more pics.......Manny....

 

[Fortin_phil]

Hi I know I’m super late to the party here but I do have a laurel cc razor looking very similar to the “dumb-bell” But it does accept modern blades and is an excellent shaver